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And it belongs to me.
14
Katy
The room is a blur of masks, wild hair, and I see a woman who looks like she’s a dressed up as a faun, complete with face paint that looks so real it’s almost fur-like. But I barely have time to think about it, or her, as we pass the table and move on.
Hadrion doesn’t stop, and I can feel the eyes on us, the weight of the room as people stop to stare, or whisper to each other as we move past them. I shouldn’t be surprised. It is his club, after all, and he carries power like a mantle. He’s tall and strong, his hair dark and soft, the curls brushing against his high collar, and his horns...
They’re so real. It’s clear he put time into his costume.
“Do you dance?” He asks me, keeping his voice low, just between us. It sends small shivers up my spine, as if he’s tracing his fingers along my bare skin.
“No,” I shake my head, and his gaze meets mine.
“I’ll have to teach you,” he murmurs. My cheeks heat, and I swallow, my mouth suddenly dry. “But not tonight. I won’t let you stumble, not here, in front of everyone.”
I’m grateful, but it feels wrong to be treated like a princess, or a queen, or whatever he thinks I am. I’m just me. Just a girl, doing a job, and getting lost along the way. A passing server offers me a glass of something, a pinkish bubbling champaign, and I take it, needing something to settle my nerves. I take a sip, and Hadrion watches me from behind his mask. Those golden eyes of his...
He leans down, and all the breath inside of me stills, the mask feeling like it should protect me from his attention, but it does not. He brushes a soft kiss across my cheekbone, so close that I can smell the warmth of his cologne, cinnamon and... something else, pomegranates maybe.
“You were beautiful when I found you,” he says, his eyes lighting upon mine. “But now you are stunning beyond anything that I could think of. I only wish...” His hand comes up, and this time he does touch me, along the back of my neck, the exposed skin rising in small shivery bumps as an answer to his gentle caress.
I can’t speak.
His eyes are holding me captive. They feel like I could fall into them.
“That I could let your hair down,” he murmurs, “run my fingers through it, watch it splayed out across my sheets--“
My face, my whole body, flushes, and when he pulls away, I gulp down a large mouthful of champagne, the fizzy feeling in my throat doing nothing to calm my nerves. He offers me his arm, and I take it, glad to have something to hang on to, because I don’t trust myself, or my legs, to stay upright.
He leads me over to a group of three people, two women, and a man, standing off to the side. Instantly I recognize the man, and I take big lungfuls of air to calm myself, the sight of himgrounding me.
It’s Falcon. I can see it behind his mask, which seems to be covered in beetle scales, hundreds of them, the blue-green-gold of them changing under the light as he moves.
“Miss Harrow,” he says, bowing low over my free hand when Hadrion lets me go. He touches a light kiss over the back of my hand, as Hadrion clears his throat, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Falcon glances at him before smiling at me. “I would ask you for a dance--“
“Not tonight,” Hadrion’s voice is tight, but his eyes crinkle at the corners as he smiles at his old friend. The two women seem to echo his smile, one hiding it behind a fan made of leather-looking feathers. She’s dressed like some kind of bird, but her entire outfit is made of a thin leather, so light that it doesn’t look heavier than a light-weight denim from the way it curves down her body and pools onto the ground. It’s shades of browns, and mottled reds, the leather cut into layers upon layers of feathers all along the bodice. It’s wild to see, and I can’t even begin to imagine how much it cost, or how long it took to make.
“You’ll see enough of him tonight, won’t you?” She asks, the feathers of her dress giving a murmured rustle as she gestures to me. Her voice is teasing, but her eyes are serious. “Introduce us properly, Falcon. Where are your manners? She’ll be wondering who we are, and what you’re up to, bringing her here. Look at that dress, a marvel.”
Her friend, a tall blonde with a cascade of almost icy-white hair, dressed in a sharp black suit that’s cut tightly across her curvy figure, eyes me up as well.
“The newest member of the Underworld?” She asks. “What family do you come from?”
“A distant branch of mine,” Hadrion cuts in quickly, introducing the two women, but their names are blurry to me, as his hand is on the small of my back, stroking there slowly along the line of my zipper. The warmth of his touch sinks into me through the many layers of fabric, and when I look up at him, his eyes are fairly glistening with...
Something.
Something unspeakable.
“I think I’ll ask you to dance,” Falcon says to the woman in the leather bird dress, and he leads her away, leaving the blonde to give me a quiet, knowing smile.
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Harrow. I hope we see you around at more events in the future.” She leans in, down toward me, and whispers into my ear, her breath cold against my skin. “You have him utterly captivated. Congratulations.” When she pulls away and disappears into the crowd, I try not to shiver.
I barely know Hadrion, and yet, he keeps looking at me, his gaze sliding over me like hot liquid, filling me up from the inside...
He takes me around the room, people passing us by, and I’m introduced to a dozen people.
